For Paul, the unity of the church isn’t so much an ideal as a “brute fact”, grounded in the reality that God Himself is One.

In a polytheistic world, it made sense to have many different temples and worshipping communities centered around different deities. But we serve a single God, who has no division or conflict within Himself, who is so completely sovereign that He leaves room for no other gods.

He has given us only One Son, into whose name we must be baptized. We all share the same faith in who He is, and have the same hope for eternal life.

In short, in all the most essential things that define who we truly are, everyone who worships Jesus as Lord truly is part of one body — whether we like it or not! [2]

Of course, the fact that we are united does not mean we are treated uniformly; for Christ gives each of us our own grace. Not in proportion to what we deserve, but in accordance with His generous nature:

The nature and relevance of these roles is the subject of much ecclesiological debate between various Christian traditions. “Cessationists” claim that the first two are no longer needed or active, while charismatics argue that all five are essential. There is also disagreement about whether “pastor and teacher” is one office or two, and whether some offices are superior to others.

One reason for the confusion is that relatively general Greek words are used to indicate very specific Christian concepts — but the New Testament writers never produced a glossary defining exactly what they meant! Thus, we need infer a definition from the way they used those terms, and different groups choose different interpretations.

The most important thing to realize is that these were given to us by Christ, for our benefit and His glory. As such, our primary task it to understand what His purpose is in giving these gifts, to ensure we are accomplishing that (regardless of what terminology or mechanisms we use).

To that end, here is one possible breakdown of these roles:

Role

Literally

Function

Apostle

“one sent forth”

Lays the foundation for the church

Prophet

“one who brings forth hidden things”

Speaks God’s truth to the church

Evangelist

“bringer of good tidings”

Preaches the gospel to save sinners

Pastor

“shepherd”

Watches over God’s people

Teacher

“imparter of instruction”

Instills doctrine in Christ’s followers

As general concepts, these are relatively non-controversial — but clearly necessary. Disagreements arise over the level of supernatural anointing and spiritual authority associated with each of these roles, and whether/how that may have changed over the course of church history. [3]

Perhaps the best way to resolve those questions is to focus on why He gave these gifts:

The first is that church offices — i.e., leaders — do not exist to “do” ministry! Rather, their role is to equip (“complete”) all of us (those being sanctified) for ministry. [4]

Second, the purpose of all this is not our individual perfection (much less happiness!), but that we as the entire body of Christ may be built up.

The main reason there is so much concern and controversy over these offices is the fear of them being used and abused for personal gain and glory — as, tragically, has happened far too often in church history. If we truly understood (and lived out) Paul’s teaching here, we would see that the ultimate measure of a leader’s effectiveness is actually how well their followers manifest holiness, ministry, and maturity.

In short, the key is realizing that the “gifts” in question are not the specific anointings for, e.g., apostlehood or prophecy. Rather, this verse is actually best read as “Christ gave these people as gifts to His body”. In other words, the apostle is not the recipient of a gift, they are the gift! Which means we as the body of Christ are the true recipients of all these gifts.